KBSL-DT

KBSL-DT, virtual and VHF digital channel 10, is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Goodland, Kansas, United States. The station is owned by Gray Television. KBSL's news bureau and advertising sales offices are located on West 31st Street in southwestern Goodland, and its transmitter is located east of K-27 in rural northeastern Sherman County.

KBSL-DT
Semi-satellite of KWCH-DT,
Hutchinson/Wichita, Kansas
Goodland/Colby, Kansas
United States
CityGoodland, Kansas
ChannelsDigital: 10 (VHF)
Virtual: 10 (PSIP)
BrandingKBSL 10
Programming
Affiliations10.1: CBS
10.2: Always on Storm Team 12
Ownership
OwnerGray Television
(Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
KWCH-DT
KSCW-DT
History
First air date
April 1959 (1959-04)[1]
Former call signs
KWGB-TV (1958)
KBLR-TV (1958–1961)
KWHT-TV (1961–1962)
KLOE-TV (1962–1989)
KBSL-TV (1989–2009)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
10 (VHF, 1959–2009)
Digital:
14 (UHF, until 2009)
Secondary:
ABC (1959–1960s)
Call sign meaning
Kansas
Broadcasting
System
GoodLand
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID66416
ERP26.5 kW
HAAT299 m (981 ft)
Transmitter coordinates39°28′10″N 101°33′19″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.kwch.com

KBSL is part of the Kansas Broadcasting System (KBS), a statewide network of four full-power stations that relay programming from Wichita CBS affiliate KWCH-DT (channel 12) across central and western Kansas; KBSL incorporates local advertising and news inserts aimed at areas of northwestern Kansas and southwestern Nebraska within the Wichita–Hutchinson Plus television market (including Colby), as well as portions of east-central Colorado. KBSL is also a sister station to Wichita-licensed CW affiliate KSCW-DT (channel 33, wholly owned by Gray) and Derby-licensed Univision affiliate KDCU-DT (channel 31, owned by Entravision Communications and operated by Gray under joint sales and shared services agreements).

Because the station's signal lies between the Central and Mountain Time Zones (its city of license and transmitter facility are both on the Mountain Time Zone side of the state), CBS primetime programming in the western part of the station's viewing area airs Monday through Saturday from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. and Sunday from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.; however, since it operates as a satellite station of Wichita-based KWCH, the station runs on a Central Time Zone schedule.

History

Channel 10 in Goodland had a turbulent early history. The construction permit was awarded to James E. Blair, trading as the Goodland Broadcasting Company, on May 11, 1955,[2] and test patterns for what was then called KWGB-TV were first broadcast in August 1958; the station installed microwave links to receive CBS and NBC network programs from Denver.[3] The Federal Communications Commission granted KWGB-TV program test authority on September 11, 1958.[2] Channel 10 had only come to air after Blair transferred the construction permit to Tri-State Television, which was 25 percent owned by South Dakota broadcaster Helene Duhamel.[4] A week later, the call letters of KWGB-TV and KWGB radio (730 AM) were changed to KBLR-AM-TV.[2]

Citing poor health and financial difficulties, Blair sought to sell his radio and TV stations to a group of businessmen from Denver, in two transactions totaling $440,000, in May 1959.[5] Financial difficulties continued, however, and both stations were put into bankruptcy in 1960. Bob Schmidt of Hays acquired the radio station, while channel 10 went to one of its creditors, equipment supplier Standard Electronics Corporation.[6] Standard took over channel 10 in January 1961 and changed its call letters two months later to KWHT-TV.[2]

Standard sold KWHT-TV to Schmidt, who also owned KAYS-TV at Hays, in 1962. To connect the Hays and Goodland television stations, a two-hop microwave system was built.[7] The deal reunited the radio and TV stations, which became KLOE and KLOE-TV.[2] The combination of the two stations was known very briefly as the High Plains Network,[8] though by the fall, KAYS-TV, KLOE-TV, and KTVC all formed part of the Kansas Broadcasting System, originating at KTVH in Hutchinson.[9]

In 1983, the Cowles family, which owned KTVH, began selling off its vast media holdings. The station was sold to the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation, owned by Ross Beach and Schmidt; for the first time, the main KBS station was co-owned with some of its semi-satellites. (KTVC was acquired by KBS in 1988.) In 1989, the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation was purchased by Smith Broadcasting; the sale separated KLOE-TV from its radio sister, however KLOE radio (as well as its sister radio stations) continues to operate from KBSL's facility on 31st Street. After the sale was completed, the station changed its call letters to KBSL-TV, as part of an effort that saw KWCH's three semi-satellites change their call letters to help viewers think of the stations as part of one large network. Smith sold the station to Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Spartan Communications in 1994; Spartan merged with Media General in 2000. In 2005, KWCH began operating a digital automation system from its Wichita studio facility, which handled the scheduling of advertisements and master control operations for all four KBS stations.

On April 6, 2006, Media General announced that it would sell KWCH, its satellites, and four other stations as a result of its purchase of four former NBC owned-and-operated stations (WVTM-TV in Birmingham, WCMH in Columbus, Ohio, WNCN in Goldsboro, North Carolina and WJAR-TV in Providence). South Bend, Indiana-based Schurz eventually emerged as the winner and took ownership of the stations on September 25, at which time Schurz formed a new subsidiary known as "Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc.," which became the licensee for its Kansas broadcasting properties.[10][11][12]

Schurz announced on September 14, 2015 that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including KWCH-DT and its satellites, to Gray Television for $442.5 million. Gray already owned KAKE and its satellites (including KLBY channel 4); however, it sold that station to Lockwood Broadcast Group and kept the KBS stations.[13][14][15]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[16]
10.11080i16:9KBSL-DTMain KBSL-DT programming / CBS
10.2480i4:3KBSL-WXAlways On Storm Team 12

Analog-to-digital conversion

KBSL shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 10, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 14 to VHF channel 10.[17] Two weeks later on June 25, 2009, the station's call letters were modified to KBSL-DT to reflect the change.

Newscasts

The station produced separate local newscasts for many years; however due to the smaller size of its studio facility, the news department was based out of a tiny studio on the west edge of the city. The station's Tri-State Report was a local news staple for many years. It was claimed that KLOE was once the smallest television station in the United States that produced its own local newscasts.[18] In the 1970s, most of the station's operations were moved to KBSH-TV's studios in Hays, and the news department was reduced to a single reporter/photographer. Daily news stories are fed via microwave relay to KWCH's facility in Wichita, which produces local news content for KBSL.

References

  1. The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says April 28, while the Television and Cable Factbook says April 26.
  2. FCC History Cards for KBSL-DT
  3. "Goodland TV Station Beams Test Patterns". Salina Journal. August 28, 1958. p. 10. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  4. "CP for KWGB-TV, Goodland, Kan..." (PDF). Television Digest. August 2, 1958. p. 8 (70). Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  5. "Goodland Radio And TV Sale Approval Sought". Hays Daily News. Associated Press. May 22, 1959. p. 2. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  6. "Bankrupt Station Sold To Hays Man". Manhattan Mercury. Associated Press. September 2, 1960. p. 2. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  7. "Microwave TV Towers Built In Northwest". Salina Journal. July 20, 1962. p. T-7. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  8. "Hays Television Station To Become CBS Affiliate". Hays Daily News. August 23, 1962. p. 2. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  9. "KBS, Kansas Broadcasting System" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 12, 1962. p. 55. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  10. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Media General, April 6, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  11. Schurz Snaps Up Kansas Affil, Broadcasting & Cable, July 28, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  12. News Releases Archived 2013-01-03 at Archive.today, Media General, September 25, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  13. "Schurz Communications to sell WSBT and other TV, radio stations". South Bend Tribune. September 14, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  14. Kuperberg, Jonathan (September 14, 2015). "Gray Acquiring TV, Radio Stations from Schurz for $442.5 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  15. "Gray Television Sells Some, Buys Some". TVNewsCheck. October 1, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  16. RabbitEars TV Query for KBSL
  17. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  18. According to the online biography of former KLOE anchor Ted Hall (now with WXIA-TV in Atlanta)
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